September 30, 2025: Tuesday Upbeat
Teachers: Happy Tuesday!
Teaching Note Names and Notes on the Staff (Cont.)
Last week I wrote a lot about teaching note names on the staff, and placed heavy emphasis on No Mnemonics! If you missed it, you can also find it here:
This week I will write just a little more about teaching note names on the staff, while still placing heavy emphasis on No Mnemonics!
According to our studio philosophy, we want to take a graceful approach to learning notes on the staff. Our strategy moves slowly and steadily toward note naming, while striving to reduce or eliminate tension, anxiety, the feeling of randomness and chaos, aggression, shaming, and gimmicks.
How, you might ask, do we help students memorize the notes on the staff if they are doing things like writing in the note names in their music?
The answer? Drill!
Drill your students on note names (once you have taught them using clefs and guide notes, not mnemonics), every lesson, using tools and strategies such as these:
Presto’s Grand Staff Assistant. You can control the placement of the note. Use this to your advantage: be repetitive and focus on a small subset of notes for a period of time. (This teaching aid can be found in every lesson room.) Presto's Grand Staff Assistant
Note Naming Worksheets. Have your student put pencil to paper and identify notes on the staff every lesson. Start with guide notes and go up and down from there.
Note Naming WorksheetsIntervals. Have students identify the note names and also the intervals. This mixes things up and also improves note reading.
Scales. Have students write out their scales, using accidentals, by hand, on the staff, in addition to playing them.
Gradual Elimination Game. Have students write all the note names in their music, and then each week, erase one or two of the note names. Start by erasing repeated notes and then make it more challenging. Make it a game to see if they can still play it with the erased notes.
Flashcards. We will soon have sets of flashcards in all the lesson rooms. Until then, you can print your own (they are easy to find on the internet).
Card Games and Board Games. We will soon have some card games and board games in all the lesson rooms. Until then, you can print your own, or invent your own. Even makeshift games can be great!
Online Websites. A good example is https://www.musictheory.net/exercises/note. (Use the exercises but not necessarily the lessons, which probably encourage mnemonics.)
Sight Reading and Sight Singing. Use material that is very easy for the student (several levels below their playing ability) and have them play and sing the note names simultaneously. For many students, having them sight sing can help drill note names while also providing ear training.
Bottom line, drill note names in your lessons – every lesson. Drill using multiple modes, styles, and teaching aids. Drill for months, drill for years. Drill until things are super easy. Let them write the note names in their music until they don’t need to any more, because you have drilled them consistently so well!
Never send students home to “learn on their own,” and then "test them" or shame them when they return for their next lesson. The learning and skill development happens in the lesson, joyfully, with you!
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Have a magical Tuesday, a musical week, and enjoy happy, healthy and tension-free teaching and learning with your students.
Thank you,
Dennis Frayne
"Dr. Dennis"
Laguna Niguel School of Music
Dennis Frayne Music Studios
30110 Crown Valley Pkwy, Suites 105/107/108
Laguna Niguel, CA 92677
(949) 844-9051 (office cell)
(949) 468-8040 (personal cell)
www.lagunaniguelschoolofmusic.com
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